2023-24 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

It's our new anthem. "The Curse of the Purple and Gold"

 

Time to make your way back to the Lakers as an assistant coach.

 

"Assistant"



Whatever they have to tell Ham until he gets the shiv in the yard.

 

i've been trying to prepare myself for it but can't quite wrap my mind around it.

dlo and at least one of vando/rui would have to be gone just to make math work.

i don't think there's a ceiling (or floor) raising star available to us this summer. don't you think we could be 3-5 games better next year with minor tweaks? that would have us near HCA and out of the play-in, which is probably all you can ask from a team led by a 40 year old.

who are the stars even possible moving aside from trae? klay thompson? paul george? i could maybe see ja morant, but no way memphis moves him to us. i've been over why i think mitchell's not coming here.

i guess kyrie would be the other. he seems happy in dallas, but that tends to change overnight with that guy.

anyway, boo third star chase. boo.

 

His trade value has gone up, so it makes it a bit more realistic to get a star caliber player for him (not straight up though). He also has a great bargain contract, which helps too.

 

Imo, a Dlo/Mitchell back court actually does make sense. It would be a similar back court to the one Cleveland has now, with Garland. Also, Mitchell makes about 10 million less than Young.

 

Idk about these Trae Young rumors...Rob hasn't made one single move, that was predicted beforehand, by these media "insiders". I don't understand why this Trae stuff, is now considered to be some kind of, "fait acompli" at all.

On the subject of 3 stars, every team considered to be a legit title contender, has at least 3 guys making over 30 million dollars. That's a 3 star model IMO.

 

We'll see..Austin and Rui still leaves us around 5 million short in salary tho. If it came down to it, I'd rather trade D'Angelo than Austin.

 

3 star model now is more like three guys at 40+. there are some exceptions with younger stars on earlier deals (e.g., tatum, mitchell), but our top two guys earn 50 and 43 next year. adding another 35/40 guy given our budget constraints is a no-go for me. was a disaster last time.

 

That backcourt would have the same issue defensively that the current Lakers backcourt has. Garland/Mitchell hasn't worked well as both are ball dominant and bad on defense which are similar issues to Dlo/Mitchell.

AR especially post all star break is a significantly better defender then Mitchell/Dlo/Garland.

 

Rajan needs to get his s*** together off the court, or his foray into the coaching world, will be extremely brief.

 

3-star model depends entirely on who the third star is. If its Trae Young, ehhh I'm probably passing on that.

 

Yeah, I'm all in on make a few tweaks on the roster plan. Upgrade from at least one of the one way players to a two way player, that'll cost a pick and maybe a swap or series of 2nds, maybe one of the young players + whoever you're upgrading from. Get a 250 pound backup center. Maybe don't sign anyone else who's ever played for Ham.

Move on from Ham but if we're not willing to do that, load that bench up with assistants with HC experience. 2-3 new assistants.

That gets you 5th seed and in the mix for 4th.

Trae, Mitchell, Kyrie, etc. don't get us in the top 3. So I really don't get the point or see any benefit to that plan.


I think Klay could be had but at this point you're paying for his name and rep vs on court value. Think Orlando makes the most sense if he leaves. Don't think PG gets off the Toilet, Ballmer needs all the headliners for the new arena. Ja...eek, agree they wouldn't send him here. I too think Kyrie likes it there. There was a piece a month or so ago about how much he's enjoying there, meshing with Luka off the court, about the chef they have to cater to his dietary requirements, etc. I think it's more likely he'll try to (unsuccessfully) lure Bron to Dallas again.

 

Darvin Ham isn't going anywhere. D'Angelo Russell might be on the move though this summer. Then again...maybe not.

 

Way too soon to make that declaration. If we lose in the play in or get embarrassed in Round 1, I think he's 100% out.

Anything after that, I think he'll be given more leniency than he should.

I think roster moves and assistants forced upon him is the more likely move unfortunately.

 

I don't think either of the first two things, are going to happen. I think this team is better than that. I'm frankly, still Iffy on D'Angelo's potential performance, moving along in the playoffs, but having Vincent and Dinwiddie as insurance, makes me feel slightly better on the subject.

Still..what you said is very true, failure is Not an option. If it happens, there should be consequences.

 

We are a top 6 in West team with a healthy Vando, the way I see it.

So: blow all this chemistry sky high by getting rid of Rui/Vando or AR and someone else to get a high volume Star shooter who doesn't play D? It just seems lame-o to me. Desperate. When you feel desperate you do dumb-a** things. We all do.

Okay, I do.

But still: ya wonder if Pelinka has it in him to do the Bizarro World 180 of his brilliant roster moves from last year and just wreck everything in the off-season because we might have a short playin/playoff run this season.

There are rare moments when I have that feeling of, ya know, "Fer crissakes make me the GM, Jeannie." This Trae talk is one of 'em.